Kraftsmanship

This month’s Charcutepalooza project was hot-smoking, which is something I’ve done a fair amount of since buying my trusty smoker back in 2001 when we moved to the Brooklyn place with a deck. It has gotten a lot of loving use since then, helping ducks, chickens, pork bellies, briskets and many other things attain shiny umber patinas and diabolically delicious depths of flavor. As with so many other culinary urges, the seeds for smoking were planted long ago by since departed family. My Grandfather had a smoker, and his smoked chickens were truly things of beauty. Being an engineer–and one who built furnaces at that–he had long, complicated theories about how to control the smoking environment to achieve the best-tasting results: his favorite formula was that the humidity should increase over time in inverse proportion to the temperature inside the chamber.

I, being pretty much the opposite of an engineer when it comes to cooking, have a very different style. But I did get the chicken gene, evidently, because people loves them some of my smoked chickens. (My Grandfather also taught me how to make pickles, and I do it exactly the same way but with a 1% less salty brine than he used. The moral of the story is that channeling your peasant ancestors is the quickest way to culinary win). I have smoked pork shoulders before, usually to make pulled pork, but this time I figured I’d give tasso ham a try since I’m always interested in the different characteristics that various cuts and techniques end up imparting to food.

So I rubbed the shoulder with a basic cure of salt, pepper, garlic, allspice, rosemary, and juniper berries and let it sit overnight. The next day I rinsed it off and rubbed it with a variant of the standard rub (per Charcuterie, of course): black pepper, coffee, cayenne, and fresh marjoram. I love pork and coffee together, and good ground espresso is a frequent component of my spice rubs; it works well with lamb and beef as well. I lit the smoker and threw in some branches from the big sugar maple out back.

While the meat smoked, I hung some sausages up (see previous post) and put some lovely artisanal conchiglie into a metal colander and then into the smoker as well, giving them a shake and stir every 10 minutes so that they would all catch some smoke. After about half an hour I took the pasta out; it had a slightly russet sheen in places and a gently smoky smell. I took the pasta and soaked it in milk that had not turned into yogurt the day before because I took a much-needed nap and it overheated. That problem is fixed, so stay tuned for a yogurt post soon. But I didn’t want to throw away some perfectly tasty if unattractively clotted milk so I dumped it into the bowl. One quart just about covered one pound of pasta, and I stirred it around every few minutes so that all the noodles would hydrate evenly. After about half an hour, I strained off the smoked milk.

Once the ham came out–just shy of 150˚–I cut it into small cubes and got it browned gently in a pan. Once sizzling nicely, I added flour enough to turn the fat into a roux and stirred it until toasted. Then the milk went in to make a lovely smoky béchamel, to which I added a bunch of chopped ramps, copious grating of 1-year Vermont cheddar, smoked paprika, black pepper, truffle oil, and finally a splash of local blackcurrant brandy for a slight fondue vibe. I tossed the smoked shells in the mornay until thoroughly covered, then poured it into ramekins and topped it with panko and dabs of butter and more pepper. Into the oven they went.

Pre-soaking rather than boiling pasta is my method of choice for any dish where the pasta finishes in the oven. It allows the result to still have an al dente texture, which makes for more interesting eating, and also allows for introducing flavors into store-bought pasta depending on what you choose to soak it in. It’s important to remember that because the pasta is only partly hydrated it will absorb more of the sauce you bake it in, so you should make it a bit runnier than you would normally.

In this case, the smoke-infused pasta, milk, and meat added up to a dish that was super comfortable and yet quite sophisticated at the same time. The smoke pervaded, so that rather than having chunks of smoky meat suspended in an unsmoked matrix of starch and fat, the whole fabric of the dish was gently yet insistently perfumed with the flavor of maple smoke. And the supporting flavors of cheese, ramps, paprika, and truffle did some truly outstanding work to make this a winner across the board. I even added some green garlic on top as a garnish because I still love them every bit as much as ramps and don’t want them to feel snubbed now that their fatter, stronger, fancier brethren are coming up.

This ham will surely make some killer eggs benedict, which I know some people are making from scratch. It will not suck in more trysts of my ongoing torrid affair with grilled sandwiches. And I have plans to make jambalaya now that I found some good crawfish. But at the end of the day, what matters is that having some cured and smoked meat around allows for better food no matter what you make. One handful of minced cured and/or smoked pork can turn a pasta sauce or pot of beans or bunch of greens or anything else into something far more deep, decadent, and satisfying. Charcuterie is a lever that can move large volumes of food a great distance towards excellence, giving us more options and more pleasure. And since a little goes such a long way, it’s the most efficient way to consume animals.

I opened a 2007 Faiveley Mercurey to go with this, and initially I was disappointed at the strongly vegetal nose. Not quite the full-on green bell pepper smell that young Bordeaux can have, but quite sharply unripe. I double-decanted it to see if that would help it wake up, and over about 20 minutes it did rise to the occasion. It’s a fascinating thing to monitor the evolution of an unpleasant flavor into a pleasant one; by the time the food was ready, that unripeness had seamlessly morphed into a warm, foresty funk with notes of sourdough and a slight cedary highlight. It was pretty dreamy with the rich pasta: the sturdy, earthy juice with graceful overtones fit beautifully with the smoky, luxe mac and chee.

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15 Comments

  1. April 14, 2011

    I’m so stealing the smoked pasta method.

  2. April 14, 2011

    I give up, I just need to move in with you and have you cook for me. This all sounds incredible. When I finally talk the husband into a smoker (way rather have that than the ipad he’s begging for) I will have to recreate something like this meal. I want this so badly.

  3. April 14, 2011

    This is awesome. I’m smoking in an apartment oven these days, but I’m trying this pasta the second I get my hands on a grill this summer…

  4. April 14, 2011

    Interesting way to prepare the pasta for baking – I’m going to use that! I hate it when the pasta becomes pasty in the oven.

  5. April 14, 2011

    All your post are belong to Punk Domestics.

  6. Peter
    April 14, 2011

    David: Steal away. I know you’ll dig it.

    Mo: You can MacGuyver one using a regular grill.

    Celia: Yes, try it. Let me know how it turns out.

    Zoomie: It makes a big difference. And you can soak it in all sorts of fun things.

    Blanche: Ur in my br0g readin my f00ds.

  7. April 14, 2011

    I’m sorry… but that’s just a damn sexy looking meal. And you make me miss NY.

  8. April 15, 2011

    One word…WOW! Amazing post and the final dish looks incredible. I am a die hard mac & cheese fan and am now completely excited to smoke my pasta and use the pre-soak trick. Thanks for all the great ideas!

  9. Peter
    April 15, 2011

    S: Don’t be sorry. New York misses you, I’m sure.

    Steph: I look forward to hearing how it turns out.

  10. April 16, 2011

    My head just exploded. You smoked mac and cheese? Yo, that shit is dope.

    Your grandfather sounds like a pretty amazing guy, btw.

  11. April 16, 2011

    really nice pix, Peter! (and it looks delicious, too). Where did you shoot the ones of the finished dish?

  12. Peter
    April 16, 2011

    Julia: It was, and he was. And I didn’t even get the bong all clogged with cheese.

    Eve: In my $2 light box. Sorry you guys had to split today; I would try back there in about a week, since what I found were pretty small. Did you see me fall in the river? Good times.

  13. April 17, 2011

    did you make the lightbox out of foamboard or something? I’m feeling a little frustrated with my lack of indoor light lately and wanting to set up something better so fill me in if you can.

    No worries about yesterday – it was a fascinating little adventure and your son is really very cute – sorry we did not say bye in person – it was not practical with our little guy and lack of appropriate footwear. I may try looking near our friends’ place in Willow – seems like sort of similar terrain to where we were. I missed you falling in the river – was that on the way over or back?

  14. April 25, 2011

    What an awesome idea. I have never heard of soaking pasta for pasta bakes before but it makes absolute sense and I will definitely try it as I hate soggy pasta and that puts me off bakes normally. This has come at the perfect time as we are heading into comfort food season down here!

  15. Peter
    April 26, 2011

    Eve: It’s a cardboard box and tracing paper. Come by and see it.

    Nic: It works really well, and should prove useful in the coming months.

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